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Kickstarter U.K. Launch Set for Halloween

Beginning October 31, Kickstarter will allow people in the United Kingdom to launch crowdfunding campaigns for their creative projects, the company announced on its blog Wednesday afternoon.

Those who want begin building their projects now can head to the start page and select “United Kingdom” as their country. Then, come October 31, they can launch their projects and begin soliciting pledges.

Jeff Howe, author of the book Crowdsourcing, thinks Kickstarter’s international expansion is a big deal for the company — not because of the immediate revenue it will generate, but because of what it represents for Kickstarter’s future growth.

“I think the U.S. will continue to dwarf the U.K. crowdfunding market… but as a symbol of Kickstarter’s growth and investor confidence, it’s a pretty significant step,” Howe told Crowdsourcing.org in a phone conversation this afternoon. “You don’t invest in foreign markets unless the trend lines point toward a return on investment.”

U.K.-based projects will be listed alongside other Kickstarter projects — meaning there won’t be a U.K.-specific Kickstarter website — though pledges will be listed in pounds sterling instead of U.S. dollars. Anyone around the world can pledge to U.K.-based projects, but foreigners will see a U.S. dollar conversion rate before pledging.

Backers of U.K. projects will enter their payment information directly on Kickstarter, which Kickstarter promises “will be processed securely through a third-party payments processor.” Backers of U.S. projects will continue to enter their payment information through Amazon Payments.

Also, Kickstarter today implemented an international shipping option for both U.S. and U.K.-based projects, though projects creators who don’t want to ship internationally can limit their rewards to solely domestic backers.

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Crowdsourcing.org, an initiative by massolution®

Founded in 2010, the industry website, Crowdsourcing.org, is a neutral organization dedicated solely
to crowdsourcing and crowdfunding. As one of the most influential and credible authorities in the crowdsourcing space,
Crowdsourcing.org is recognized worldwide for its intellectual capital, crowdsourcing and crowdfunding
practice expertise and unbiased thought leadership.